Heart of Ice
by Tequoia
Summary: The loneliness and torment froze her to her core. Together now, with a kindred spirit even colder than herself, she finds her dream. They will learn how to open their hearts of ice to each other, and to the rest of the world. FemNaru/Haku Minato/Kushina
1. Frozen Memories

I feel like Haku is not... appreciated enough in this series. I hope I can help that. I like _him_ a lot.

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><p><strong>Posted: Jan 23 2014<strong>

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><p><em><strong>I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden<strong>_

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><p>Naruto panted tiredly in the freezing air.<p>

While she got away unscathed, it was still painful.

Noticing that there were people just outside who were going to get in, she tried to hurry.

Finally inside of her apartment, she stumbled into her room. Taking a quick glance at the state of her room she realized this place wasn't safe either, but she simply did not have it in her to continue running, if worst comes to worst, she'd just hide in the 'hole' again.

Oddly enough the noises outside stopped, so she just assumed it was over. She faintly remembered that someone with a weird mask was in the crowd, but didn't look like he was chasing her, just looking at her. She disregarded it. She was too tired to think.

After surveying the wasteland which had become her home, she sighed. The graffiti and broken furniture only reminded her of how harrowing this so called life was to her. The day was finally getting to her, breaking her. The redhead's slim legs could hardly carry her to the tiny space which was the corner where her bed was. Even ripped to shreds she knew it would be the most comfortable place to be.

After slowly climbing on top of her bed, she shakily put her right hand over her seven year-old heart, trying to understand why it hurt so much. She managed to avoid getting hit this year, but it still hurt her, she couldn't understand why she was in so much pain if she never got hit.

_'Why... why does it have hurt so much...' _she thought, blinking, and blinking again, and then once more, each time with increasing moisture which was threatening to spill.

Bringing her knees to her chest, she felt the dam which were her ocean-blue eyes finally shatter, releasing not only her tears, but her pain as well. Holding herself, she sobbed bitterly.

"I'll show 'em..." she mumbled quietly, "I'll show all of them!" the Uzumaki claimed, a little more loudly, sorrow and rage evident even in her choked voice.

Since Naruto could remember, her dream was to become the Hokage. She thought that if she did, people would be forced to accept and acknowledge her.

That was why she was crying. Acceptance, acknowledgment... love. These were all things she desperately wanted, _needed_. That was her true dream. Holding herself tighter, she looked out of her window which was next to the bed. Taking in the fact that the window was broken as well, the cold night's breeze flowed in and out of the opening.

With a waterfall of emotions still flowing through her darkened eyes, she slowly let go of herself and crawled closer to the window. Finally reaching the opening, she took in the sight of the full moon and cloudless night, of which were illuminating her trademark Uzumaki red-hair, as well as her pained, teary face. Slowly shifting her heavy vision to the Hokage monument, she looked over the faces which still to this day protected the village with their eternal gaze.

The God of Shinobi, The Shodaime, founder of the village, wielder of the legendary Mokuton. Naruto knew of Senju Hasirama well, as well as the books she had liberated from the community library could teach her.

Looking on further right, she took notice of the Nidaime. Brother to the Shodaime, Senju Tobirama, who was renowned for his incredible water affinity and his effective if questionable policies as Hokage.

Further on stood the Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Professor was a master of his craft. Having created and collected countless jutsu, he became a force to be reckoned with, even in his old age. Wise, humble, and_ untrustworthy,_ as far as Naruto knew.

Despite being so young, her experiences forced her to grow quickly. She still remembered why the current Hokage actually got her the apartment she was currently residing in.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

_The night was October 10th, and there in the alley stood a shivering five year-old child with eyes much older than a girl her age should have. It wasn't the best area to be in, she was sure of that now. In front of the redhead stood no less than six people, all fit with a grin that could paralyze a girl much older than herself._

"_P-please... I didn't d-do anything," the small blue-eyed girl stuttered. She was deathly afraid of what was about to happen. In the orphanage the worst that could happen was her caretaker starving or neglecting her. This would _physically _scar her for life._

_The mob was coming closer, some bore open smiles, some laughed, some cheered, but she could tell what they shared, they were happy about what was to come to her._

_The first came at her quite quickly, running into her and kicking her in the stomach, roughly sending her hurtling into the wall, where she lost conscious from knocking her head on the hard concrete._

_The young man was pleased, his revenge against the beast who was responsible for taking his parents away would soon be complete. He and the others stalked closer, but suddenly stopped when they felt a chill in the air. Looking behind themselves, they saw nothing, however when they turned to look back, there was a teen in a weasel mask now in front of them._

_The man who had previously punted Naruto took a step forward, despite the fear building inside his chest, and yelled out "Hey! Let us finish it!" A second later he found himself on the floor, his heart pierced, a fate which followed the rest of the mob soon after._

_The man in the weasel mask was not fond of killing, and only performed the deed when he found it absolutely necessary, such as when people are needlessly trying to murder an innocent child. He pulled his blade out of the last man, briefly cleaning it with a cloth before sheathing the weapon to his waist._

_Turning behind him, he took notice of the small red bundle which was Naruto. A shame he had decided. The teen thought it best to bring her to the Hokage, as she was supposed to be in an orphanage, but she was far away from the nearest one to his knowledge. Walking forward he picked the small girl up, inspecting her for injury as if appraising an antique. Deciding she just knocked her head and was actually okay, he made his way to the Hokage._

_The journey to the Hokage's office was relatively short. Despite it being the anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat, the village was quiet._

_Approaching the door, he opened it, and within he found The Professor battling an enemy that only the Yondaime was powerful enough to defeat._

_The old man took notice of his ANBU captain and smiled, but that smile was short lived as his withering eyes traveled to the young girl his most promising shinobi was holding. Dropping his paperwork, he waited for the teen to begin._

_Weasel recognized the Hokage's prompt and began his report._

"_Hokage-sama, I am here to report that the mission to rice country was a success." The teen stated emotionlessly._

_The Hokage expected as much. Assassinations were becoming a primary source of income when it came to missions, and Weasel was the best despite his young age. "I see," the old man began, "that is good, Weasel-kun, you have a 100% success record," Hiruzen stated. "Keep up the good work and you may just become my next successor," he stated with a smile. "I will have a new mission ready for you tomorrow, and this time it will be of your choice," he finished calmly._

_Weasel almost smiled at that, being able to select his own mission. He knew that Hiruzen allowed him this as a sort of vacation, as it was obvious he would select a courier assignment, where he could take his own pace. However, he didn't miss how the Sandaime nodded a little towards the redhead he was still holding in his arms, silently demanding an explanation._

"_Hokage-sama, while I was returning from my previous mission, I saw Naruto alone in an alley approximately two miles from the orphanage she was to be staying in. When I found her, she was being attacked by a group of people who seemingly wanted to destroy the Kyuubi as a sort of revenge. After she was incapacitated by one of the attackers, I intervened and eliminated the threat to the jinchūriki," Weasel spoke in indifference._

_The Professor sighed softly, his thoughts of how it would be a disaster should the jinchūriki die. His gaze hardened seeing the small girl shift a little in Weasel's arms. "Weasel-kun, I see you know that we cannot afford to allow our jinchūriki to die. It would lead to ruin for Konoha," the old man stated with authority thick in his voice. He began again, "I must thank you for bringing Naruto to me, it seems as if she was removed from her orphanage..." the old man drawled._

_Weasel could see the man thinking, focus clear in his old features. "It seems I must allow Naruto to dwell within her own establishment. I will provide for her an apartment, and I will talk to her about joining the Academy," the Hokage finished, his intentions clear._

_Weasel was not a genius for nothing. "Pardon, Hokage-sama, but would it not be more effective to allow Naruto to have individualized training and be molded into a weapon?" He knew it was not morally correct, but it would be best for the village. "If we give our jinchūriki advanced training, we would be at a bigger advantage compared to the other villages." Weasel did not like it, but it was the truth._

_The old man sighed, all that Weasel said was definitely true, and it was illogical to continue what he was doing. "Weasel..." the Professor began, his features becoming more rigid, serious. "What you said is without a doubt true, however..." he mumbled the last part, as if in pain. "I made a promise to an old friend, Weasel-kun, and because of that promise, I do what I do."_

_Weasel simply stared uncomprehendingly at what his Hokage said. The prodigy did not miss how the old man's features become more and more... depressing? He did not understand, but he realized he did not have to. He was not supposed to question the Hokage, his leader. It was out of line to even mention what he did. "I... see..." Weasel stated, in what Hiruzen presumed to be confusion._

_The Sarutobi clan head became very serious. "Weasel-kun, sometimes not everything is logical, I still have my intentions for Naruto to become a very powerful Shinobi of this village, and I probably would have done what you had suggested..." He paused, as if to let it sink in. "However, sometimes you must sacrifice for the good of the few, instead of the good of the many. Such as for your loved ones. Otherwise, Weasel-kun, you will become a very hollow man." Hiruzen took in the subtle body language Weasel was emitting._

_He knew he got his point across, but it could not hurt to reinforce it." If you need an example, simply examine my old teammate, Danzō. His work had consumed him. He no longer understands the definition of the words 'morality' or 'emotion'." The Professor relinquished his hardened gaze from Weasel, and instead became a calm old man yet again._

_Weasel was lost in thought. He was a weapon of the village, a perfect, emotionless shinobi to be used. Hiruzen noticed how Weasel was reacting, and came to a decision._

_Smiling, Hiruzen began, "Thank you for your work today, Weasel-kun, please hand over Naruto and I will provide a home for her." Weasel quickly followed the order to the letter, finally releasing the young red-head to the old man. The Hokage looked at the young child with a smile as he held her before looking back to Weasel. "Weasel-kun, you are dismissed."_

_Weasel bowed and made his way to the door, but as he opening it, he heard the Hokage speak one more time._

"_Oh, and Itachi?" the old man began with a smile, waiting for Itachi to look back, which he did. "You are officially off duty for the next thirty days. Use that time to think on what I said." Itachi stared for a split second, before nodding. Hiruzen quietly started, "personally, I suggest spending that time with your family and friends. Goodbye, Itachi."_

_Itachi nodded again, feeling a rare emotion that he thought he shouldn't feel anymore. Happiness. Happiness that things turned out the way they did. Perhaps it was better Naruto be given a chance at a normal life than being turned into a weapon. With that thought he left to the Uchiha compound, leaving Naruto to The Professor._

_Hiruzen sighed softly, putting Naruto down on a chair in his office, before going back to his desk to find a suitable home. After a while, he came to decision. He pulled out the necessary papers for the house, as well as going into his personal vault and getting some ryō for Naruto to start out with._

_After collecting what he needed, and went back to the sleeping red-head and picked her up and headed for the new home personally._

_The redhead woke up in an unfamiliar environment, but that is what she assumed would be the case. She heard some of the discussion of course. Her five year-old brain trying to understand what she had heard._

"_Hello Naruto-chan," the Hokage began with a smile._

Present

Naruto could only grunt indecently as she thought of what she had heard that night in the strange ninja's arms. It was quite obvious that she was supposed to be turned into a weapon but someone she doesn't know stopped it, and that she was going to be killed and was apparently only saved because she was a 'jinchūriki'. After she had heard that she simply forced herself to sleep rather than pretend as she was.

She had learned just exactly what a jinchūriki was not long after, slipping into the library to investigate what one was.

It was the worst learning experience of her life, and it made so much sense. She was a human sacrifice, a holder for one of the nine bijuu.

It explained everything, and it wasn't fair.

She shivered.

_'I never wanted this...'_ she thought bitterly. After making the connections, she became much more withdrawn from society, trying to only be out when absolutely necessary, such as when she had to go to the Academy.

The Hokage had offered the chance to her, like she knew he would from just before the man named 'Weasel' had suggested making her a weapon and the Hokage agreed but said he couldn't. She still regretted forcing herself to sleep, but she knew she probably would have been discovered at that point.

The Academy was a lonely place. She was there two years early, joining at the age of five rather than seven. From what she could tell, the teachers didn't like her, and because of that they made the training hard for her, often training her incorrectly or simply ignoring her.

She also had no chance to make friends there, as all the parents were aware of her existence and warned their children to stay away from the girl.

It wasn't fair, it wasn't justice. She had been tortured over something she had no part in.

Finally shifting her heavy gaze from the Sandaime, she looked at who she considered the greatest of the Kage, even after learning the truth. She couldn't explain it. After she had learned that she was a jinchūriki and what that meant, she realized that her hero was the one that condemned her to the life she currently found herself in.

She took the revelation hard, but, she still had the highest thoughts of the man, and tried to reason why he did it, why he chose her.

Her pain was for the greater good, but that still did not make it any easier.

She was an orphan who had just lost her parents, that probably had a factor in it, because no family would ever let their child bear this kind of burden, right? Better to allow the child freedom from parents who would hate her, by making sure there would be no parents to hate her in the first place.

At that moment she could of swore she saw the Yondaime's head shed a tear. She rubbed her raw, teary eyes. An illusion she thought.

_Family_ she was reminded.

The one thing she wanted so badly but realized could never have.

Sparing one last look at who she thought was the most powerful and awesome of the Hokage, Minato Namikaze, she crawled back into her bed.

_Family..._

Her emotional state continued to crumble.

"I don't want this!" she yelled for nobody to hear, clutching her stomach, where she likely knew the seal that contained the Kyūbi would be.

"I-it's not f-fair," she mumbled, then becoming more angry at the thought. "IT'S NOT _FAAAAAAAAAIR!_" she screamed, sobbing into the torn and cold mattress. She began to shake horribly, "I... I just w-want... somebody to l-l-lo-love me..." She continued to twitch, until she eventually fell asleep, still crying horribly. She felt so cold.

She was not the only one crying however, inside the seal she had clutched at earlier stood two adults

A mother with the trademark Uzumaki red-hair was sobbing for her daughter throughout the entire ordeal, wishing she could do more to help, to show her that someone really did love her.

"No, honey," she cried, "it's not fair at all, y'know..."

Encircling the sobbing redhead was a blonde with spiky blonde-hair, trying to comfort his wife, but still feeling horrible himself. "She'll be okay..." he tried to reassure, but his voice still cracked. "She'll know someone loves her soon enough... that she's not alone in this world."

Namikaze Kushina smiled at that, it was so like him to try and cheer her up like that, but she still felt horrible. "That doesn't make it any easier to deal with y'know..." she said heart brokenly.

Namikaze Minato had to agree. The Yondaime's thoughts drifted back to when the sealing took place. He had realized that both of their baby's parents were going to die that night, and they very well should have. But now, they still had the opportunity to be a family.

The Night of the Kyūbi attack

_He wasn't a fūinjutsu genius for nothing though, after using the __**Shiki Fūjin**__ he came to the realization that this was going to be the end._

_A thought ran through his head though, while he looked on at his wife saying her last words their wonderful baby girl, their child which was going to be alone in life. _No_ he decided. He was not ready to die yet._

"_-all you need to remember is that this world is made up of men and women, so it's only n-natural to take an interest in guys, b-but just don't get hooked on bad men... find s-someone just like your d-dad..."_

_The pain was unbearable, all three sources of it. The Shinigami taking his soul, the Kyūbi's claw which had impaled him, but most of all his wife's last words to their child, the fact that their daughter would have to grow up without her parents._

_He had one last idea to try. Waiting until he could feel the Kyūbi's yin chakra within him, and see the seal to represent the yang was within their daughter, he brought his hands up to form rather familiar seals, and when he finished, he whispered to his love with the last of strength._

"_H-hold on..."_

"_N-naru... we love you..." Kushina whispered, but became confused when she heard her love. "Mina-kun?"_

"_**Fūin!**__"_

_Suddenly the father and mother found themselves sucked into a damp sewer._

_'_It worked!'_ Minato's eyes widened. He smiled. _'Well, looks like... at the least Naru-chan will be able to meet her mother,'_ he thought happily._

_Kushina was in shock, did Minato just do what she thought he did? "M-m-min-mina-kun?" the redhead stuttered, looking to her chest to see that the wound was in a sort of stasis, and then she took in her surroundings, it was..._

_She immediately turned around and trapped Minato in an embrace. "You're a genius Mina-kun!" she said excitedly. She was thinking of how they could still be a family, a big happy family, she smiled. Then she noticed the sad smile on Minato's face. _'No...'_ she thought... The_ S_hinigami was going to steal her husband from her and her daughter, when they had the chance to be a happy family again._

_Staring into Minato's eyes she saw the truth in them. "NO!" she screamed, holding him in the hardest embrace she could. "You can't go now! No no no no no NO!" More tears were coming from her eyes. Minato sacrificed everything for her and now he was giving her the chance to be with her daughter, at the cost of his own soul. "N-no..." she croaked._

_Staring into her beautiful violet eyes, knowing the shinigami was going to claim him any moment now. "Kushina..." his mind drifted, all of it around the sobbing redhead which was holding him in a death grip. "I love you..." he said absentmindedly. The girl from whirlpool kissed him on the lips, forcing the most love and passion she could._

"_You idiot..." she said, breaking off from the kiss. Minato still stared at her as if she was a priceless gem. "You can't go now y'know? We're going to be happy!" she yelled at him, inches from his face. Minato still could only smile. "We were going to be one big happy family" she cried sinking her head into his chest. "I love you so much... you... you can't go now... not when it's all o-over... please..." she begged, demanding he stay here with her._

_Minato never once stopped beaming. He lifted her head up and stared into her eyes again. "I have no regrets Kushi-chan... I know you'll find a way out of here and be with our daughter..." He's so calm, she thought. "You've made my life so..." he paused, his eyes watering at memories about the love of his life. "Wonderful" he continued, "you're so beautiful" he mumbled quietly._

"_Everything about you... your eyes, your red-hair, your personality, even your cute verbal tick..." he said with love in his voice. She still held his gaze, tears flowing through both their eyes at their final goodbye. "Thank you Kushi-chan..." he started softly, "thank you for making my life so full... so happy... you even gave me a beautiful daughter..." Kushina couldn't take it. He held nothing but love for her, and she felt so guilty. She felt as if it was all her fault... if she hadn't...- "Kushi-chan," he said a little more forcefully, seeing that look in her eyes. "I guess I forgot to mention you always try to take the blame too huh," he said, almost laughing. "This was all me this time..."_

_They both suddenly felt the sewer shake violently, and Kushina knew this was it. He was going to die for her and their daughter, and they would never be together ever again, he would never see the women their cute baby would become. She tackled him to the ground, sobbing. "It's not fair... it's not fair... it's not fair..." she cried bitterly, wishing for a miracle._

_Minato accepted his fate. He of course wanted, badly, to see their daughter grow up and become the incredible kunoichi he knew she would. He turned his focus back to Kushina, knowing he had but seconds left. "Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina-chan..." he said slowly, "take care of our daughter for me will ya?" Seeing Kushina sadly nod, he smiled even brighter. "I love you..." he said happily._

_Minato knew this was the end. He waited peacefully while the sewer trembled. Minato rose up and tried to push Kushina away, but failed. She still held on as if for her life._

_They both heard a loud cracking noise and looked towards the source, they saw a massive gate, of which they both realized must be where the Kyūbi's yang chakra resided. They looked closer to the seal which was on the center and noticed that it was emitting something._

"**_NAMIKZE MINATO! NO ONE SHALL SUMMON ME AND NOT PAY THE PRICE!" _**_They felt the sewer give another violent shake, cause both of them to lose their balance and collapse. The Shinigami was trying to get through the seal and get to him._

_Kushina's eyes widened. If it got through then Minato would be lost forever. She immediately rushed forward, through what felt to be an earthquake with the intention of saving her husband. Upon reaching the glowing seal on the cage she immediately began to, as quickly as she could, apply every kind of seal she knew on top of the current one stop to stop the Shinigami, despite the difficulty which was overlapping a seal, and overlapping more complicated skills in such a short amount of time at that. She had the motivation and determination though, this would decide whether her husband lived or died, but she couldn't make a single mistake or the seal combination would unravel to it's simplest form, and then surely the Shinigami would break through._

_Minato had his eyes closed, thinking Kushina had accepted what was going to happen to him. He was meditating in what he believed to be his final moments, simply not realizing what Kushina was doing. He had accepted his fate and believed there to be no way out for him this time._

"**_Four Symbols Seal!"_**_ he heard, and his eyes snapped open upon hearing his wife perform the complex seal. _'What is she doing?' _he wondered. He saw that his wife struggling to layer seals on top of the one the Shinigami was trying to get through._

"**_Four Symbols Seal!" _**_Minato heard again, he sprinted over at top speed to help her, realizing, just maybe, he did not have to die. Perhaps he could still be with Kushina... Naruto... They could still be one big happy family._

"_**Eight Trigrams Sealing Style!"**__ Kushina shouted, seeing that the Shinigami had gotten through the original seal that it itself had helped in creating._

_The moment Minato had reached Kushina, power erupted through the many seals and blasted them far back, and then a horrible screeching noise was heard before the Shinigami raged once again._

"_**NAMIKAZE MINATO! NO ONE CHEATS THE SHINIGAMI! NO ONE!"**_

_Minato's mind was suddenly terrified, he didn't believe he had a chance in the slightest that he would survive summoning the Shinigami, but now there was. He didn't want to die. Both of them stood up and tried to reach the seals again. Just as they were about to reach them, they saw the many seals that had been overlapped unravel, from the base, until all that was left was the final __**Eight Trigrams Sealing Style**__ and Minato cried for the future he knew he was going to lose that he could have had. It was over, he looked longingly one last time at Kushina who was struggling to repair the seal with tears in her eyes._

_The final seal began to shatter, but just as it was, it stopped glowing, and the voice returned._

"**_CURSE YOU NAMIKAZE MINATO!"_**_ the Shinigami roared through the almost broken seal as the sewer continued to tremble, but as it returned again it's demonic voice had faltered, _**_"CuR_**_SE _**_yo_**_u!_**_"_**_ The voice was gone, the shaking of the sewer had stopped_

_The other seals had fallen apart and all that remained was a damaged _**_Eight Trigrams Sealing Style_**_._

_Minato's eyes had widened to the size of saucers. "Kushina..." the Yondaime said in awe. He was still alive, and all was good._

_Kushina's tears still hadn't stopped, just instead of them being sad, they were happy. She did it! She had saved her husband from the god of death! The new mother turned from the seal to her love and hugged him while simultaneously forcing her lips to his._

_Having not needed oxygen in their new environment, they didn't break until nearly three minutes had passed. "You idiot..." his wife giggled, smiling._

_Minato hugged her _hard, _"T-th-thank you... Kushi-chan... thank you... I-I..." he was cut off when Kushina had kissed him again._

Present

He and Kushina were still alive. That is what mattered.

They had only but wait in front of their daughter, their daughter who was quickly locking her cold and abandoned heart off to the world. They both hated having to let their daughter suffer during her birthday. It was meant to be a day of great celebration, not great sorrow. He and Kushina could still repair the damage, even if it took years more for them to escape the seal, their daughter will know their love.

They were going to be a family. It was decided.


	2. Cold as Ice

**Posted: Jan 24 2014**

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><p><strong>I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden<strong>

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><p>Haku woke slightly early, startled.<p>

Shakily bringing a hand up to his heart, he sighed.

He was having the nightmares again. Memories. Reliving the night his father had mercilessly killed his mother, and how he stopped his father dead in his tracks when he lunged for the brown-eyed child. Frozen solid was the father, which left the son's heart in the same state, frozen.

Slightly tearing up at the memory. He began to pack up supplies. They traveled sparsely, always ready to leave at a moments notice, which is perhaps the reason Zabuza didn't notice the emotions his student was experiencing behind the mask he wore to sleep.

Zabuza himself was up just after Haku, he was excited.

He was always looking for a good fight, and that was exactly what he was going to get today. The fat little man, Gatō supplied him with exactly that, a good fight. The contract was to kill a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna, a simple assassination, made more complicated, and by extension more entertaining, by the fact that the engineer was being escorted by the infamous Sharingan Kakashi.

He knew of the cyclop's reputation. He was a man not meant to be fucked with. That didn't matter to the missing-nin however, he had no doubts or fears. Zabuza was the best and he knew it, that's why he wasn't afraid. Kakashi may have copied over a thousand jutsu, but Zabuza was the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

Polishing his blood-stained Kubikiribōchō, he grabbed the last of his tools and packed them into his pockets.

Speaking of tools, he looked over to the other side of the cave they were camping in and spotted his best tool, besides his own sword, Haku.

Haku was a fine weapon, of course that is to be expected of anyone he taught. It was obvious to the elder man that the Yuki in front of him was perfect in ways of emotion. He tried to kill any trace of it ever since he found the boy. From experience he knew an emotionless slave would be more useful to him than an emotional, imperfect tool.

He didn't admit he failed though, he was above failure. He had just decided it was not worth his time to try and break the child any longer. So he accepted the boys sadness after a couple years. He still had his uses, so it was fine. Still, he would have rather had a slave.

"Haku," the killer grunted out, "we're going to leave soon, but I want you to stay out of my way."

Haku nodded, understanding that the man in front of him wanted to fight without interruption or distraction.

"However," he spat, "you know what to do if..." he couldn't say the rest. "I want you to get me out of there and retreat." Zabuza wasn't pleased, from what he could tell, there were three other ninjas with Kakashi, so there stood a chance he wouldn't win. He needed to make sure he would not die if things did not go his way and the other ninjas proved to be more powerful.

Haku briefly considered just letting the man die if things went that direction. The killer was too scared to admit that he could lose. "Yes, Zabuza-sama," the last pure Hyoton user said in his best emotionless voice.

"Good," the man said grudgingly, "we should go now."

Haku nodded again, grabbing the last of his things. His thoughts went to his current situation. He was a slave. It wasn't hard to figure out. Having lost his parents at such a young age and later being taken in by an infamous murderer, he was forced to grow up quick.

He still longed for his mother's embrace. _Love_. It was something he believed he never experience again. He tried to still his heart, he really did, but it still beat with the sadness of his life's truth.

He always did his best to develop his own philosophies, and not merely follow what he was told. He came to his own conclusions more often than not. An example was what he thought of why people should fight.

_'You fight to protect what's precious to you,'_ was the conclusion he reached. This only depressed him further. He had nobody who was _truly_ precious to him. Behind the cold, expressionless mask he put up when near Zabuza, he was actually a very emotional person. It made the pain that much more intense. It was a horrible line of thought. He would have rather been not as good as reading people as he was. Perhaps the pain he felt would not be as great when saw the simple things in life he was denied.

He desperately wanted a way out, but to get one, would mean he would have to escape Zabuza. But there was a problem to that. If Zabuza were to disappear, he would be truly alone. The slave would not know where to go without it's master. He did not know how to talk to people normally. All he has known has been this life of crime and murder.

He felt so cold, even though his bloodline provided immunity to physical chill.

He just wanted someone to love him.

Perhaps the was someone out there, someone who he could open his frozen heart to, someone who would understand him, someone he would love, someone who would love _him._

He would just have to wait and see, for now he had to follow Zabuza and protect him.

* * *

><p>After a grueling seven years at the Academy, she was finally getting somewhere!<p>

Their first C ranked mission. She was never this excited, the last time being that she actually graduated.

She had figured out after failing twice on the graduation exam what her problem was. She simply had so much chakra it was impossible to properly perform that stupid **Bushin no Jutsu**. It was odd though, she had merely learned that overnight, as well as the **Kage Bushin no Jutsu**. It was the strangest thing.

Taking the exam again she had passed with flying colors, that **Bushin no Jutsu** was the only thing holding her back. She did excellent at the written test, having gotten most of her knowledge during her time from books rather than the instructors.

In taijutsu she was average at best, she had a very hard time studying this topic by herself, and again, the instructors were useless to her.

Endurance was her highest grade, probably because of the Fox she reasoned. It was the reason she could heal so rapidly, so it made sense.

Jutsu she also did great it, but she did not pass the other two years because this category you are required to ace all of the various jutsu, and she couldn't get**Bushin no Jutsu** to work, after mysteriously learning the **Kage Bushin no Jutsu** in her sleep, she passed. She did not have a a good idea how she had learned it. Her best guess was it had something to do with the Kyuubi.

Many did not expect her to pass, which was expected she supposed, but her passing wasn't what was on the news. After graduation, Mizuki, which was Naruto's least favorite teacher, was revealed to be a traitor to Konoha after attempting to steal the Scroll of Sealing. He was executed the next day. Naruto wasn't ashamed to admit that made her smile. Mizuki hated her unconditionally, and he got what he deserved in her opinion.

After going through all she did, and now being on her first C ranked, she knew that she was one step closer to becoming Hokage, and potentially her one true dream as well.

* * *

><p>Within the seal, Minato and Kushina were positively ecstatic that their little girl had passed the academy because of them gifting her the knowledge of her chakra reserves and the <strong>Kage Bushin no Jutsu<strong>.

Kushina in particular was extremely happy to know that she directly helped her cute baby, but that's not to say she still didn't feel anger at Konoha and the Academy for treating her the way they did. She was plotting all the various ways she would get back at those who had wronged Naruto.

Torture into execution for the various instructors. She smiled.

Just plain murder for the people who had chased around Naruto when she was a little child.

Naruto still was a little child, she always will be, Kushina decided.

Pranks to those who should have helped her, but didn't, such as the major clans. She grinned wickedly at the thought of unleashing killer fleas within the Inuzuka compound.

Besides how the two were going to go about punishing people when they got out, they had completely figured out their situation within the seal. Minato had used a complex version of a storage seal on top of the seal which created the Kyūbi's new prison, and it had the effect of sealing them in it as well, but not within the cage.

This worked because the mindscape which was created from the original seal to house the Kyūbi interacted with the advanced storage seal in such a way that it sealed Minato and Kushina within the mindscape. They were free to interact with it as they pleased.

Since Minato held the Kyūbi's yin chakra, he had decided it best to gradually feed it through the seal, so that Naruto will contain all of the Kyūbi's power rather than only half. He began this process when his daughter reached the age of five, and finished when she was twelve. Because the Yondaime had lost his share of the Kyūbi chakra, the Shinigami-made seal on his stomach had vanished, bringing that little bit of reassurance.

Now a true jinchūriki, when she uses the Kyūbi's power, it will be that much more powerful. Of course, it will be harder to control, but Kushina agreed that that doesn't matter, since Naruto will have her and Minato to help her. The first thing they did after getting their emotions under control when they were sealed was fixing the seal the Shinigami almost destroyed on Naruto after all.

Minato had also figured out how they were going to get out of the seal. When Naruto first draws on the Kyūbi's chakra, the seal will be opened enough to where Minato and Kushina will be able to 'unseal' themselves, similar to unsealing a kunai from a storage scroll.

Kushina demanded to try and force the seal, unleashing the Kyūbi's chakra from the inside, so that they could escape, but Minato reasoned that would most likely destroy the seal because Naruto is so young. They mutually decided when Naruto was fifteen, and if she has not drawn upon the Kyūbi yet at that point, that they would force the seal, so that they could unseal themselves and finally meet their daughter. Using this process to a lesser extent they managed to teach their daughter about her chakra and the **Kage Bushin no Jutsu**, but they could only do it once without majorly damaging the seal, so they agreed to do that to help their daughter when she needed it.

Having fourteen years within the seal, they also figured out how to manipulate the mindscape, it was now in the image of a clearing encircled by forest. Many types of animated wildlife and flowers, even a sun and a large tree to hide themselves from it.

After fixing the wounds they both got from the Kyūbi, they also introduced an atmosphere, and later all of their senses. They found they both could still train their skills in their new environment. Since Minato had never been able to complete his elemental rasengan, he now had the chance to complete that among other things, and Kushina could become more well rounded outside of her fūinjutsu.

Fifteen years to just train was simply outrageous to Kushina. Even Minato snapped at the boredom at one point. Things happened between the two.

They were both extremely anxious to get out, at most they had to wait was six months until they would get out.

But until then, they had resigned themselves to more waiting, this time they would wait while watching their baby's first C ranked mission, Kushina summoned up popcorn out of the mindscape as they played Naruto's sight through a television while on a comfy couch.

* * *

><p>Tazuna, Naruto decided, was still worth helping, even though he had lied to the team. Not that she had decided to voice her opinion on the matter, it wasn't exactly <em>their<em> problem her cold persona told her.

To the redhead's surprise, Kakashi just grunted, then sighed, then agreed to help the old bridge builder even though he deceived them. Soon after that they found themselves nearing Nami no Kuni. A thick, unnatural mist was beginning to envelop them, and Naruto and her team knew trouble was coming...

* * *

><p>The violet-eyed girl bounced up off the loveseat with a girlish squeal, while Minato thought with a proud, fatherly smile, <em>'That's my girl!'<em>

* * *

><p>Haku sighed, Zabuza had been overconfident, took on more than he could handle. Not that the murderer would ever admit it. He leaped from the trees he was hiding in after throwing a senbon that placed Zabuza in a near-death state.<p>

Faking that he was a hunter-nin was relatively easy, it wasn't the only time he has done it, _'Zabuza seems to like to put himself into these kinds of situations,'_the Hyoton user thought impassively. He briefly looked into the eyes of each of them, weighing them.

The pink-haired girl, Haku could tell, had lived a very sheltered life, and saw that she did not do anything during their team's fight with Zabuza. Pathetic, the Yuki decided.

The last Uchiha was different, Haku was slightly intrigued. He could tell that the onyx-eyed boy had a lot of potential and fought for his own reasons.

The Jōnin was what Haku expected. Professional, calm and collected, probably could have discovered that he was faking being a hunter-nin if given more of a chance.

He turned his eyes towards the last team member for a second, but found himself staring into her brilliant blue eyes for three before breaking off.

"Thank you for helping me in retrieving Zabuza's corpse, I must be going now," the Hyoton user said, almost nervously.

Kakashi nodded as he saw the hunter-nin leave, he turned to address his team. "Well done guys," he said, rather casually as now he was out of the fight. "Tazuna I think we'll be safe for now, so take us to this bridge please."

"But hey!" Sakura shouted, annoyed. "Why did we just let that masked guy take Zabuza away?!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes before boringly saying "Because, Sakura, that was a hunter-nin."

Naruto was startled, why did that ninja look at her that way? _'It was like he was looking for something...'_ She was confused. The redhead shrugged it off, she had more important things to worry about. Naruto saw that her team was heading to what appeared to be a boat, she went to go catch up.

* * *

><p><em>'Her eyes...'<em> Haku thought, with an emotion he didn't quite know what.

After laying Zabuza down on one of the makeshift beds within their little cave and taking off his mask, he decided to go outside. He really needed to clear his head. Having a hard time thinking, he suddenly found himself at a pond, staring into his own reflection. He slowly sat down at the edge of the pond, bringing his right hand up to his eyes, looking into the his own reflection.

_'Her eyes...'_ the Hyoton user gasped, staring back into his brown orbs. _'her eyes... are like mine...'_ he thought in shock. He frowned, noticing how his eyes were lost in water. "I need to talk to her..." he mumbled to himself in a voice he was not familiar with. He noticed the water in front of him begin to slowly freeze over. The last Yuki sighed, knowing that the environment around him typically would become colder when he lost control of his emotions. A thought formed in his head. _'Perhaps I can convince Zabuza that it would be wise for me to try and communicate with them for the sake of trying to lift information.' _He shook his head, not knowing exactly why he was so interested in that redheaded girl. Perhaps... it was because of that strange warm feeling he felt while looking at her? He would find out soon.

His mind set, he spared one last glance into the now frozen pool, he stood up and headed back to the cave.

* * *

><p>Minato had grown a little weary, thinking about how that masked ninja was obviously not an actual hunter-nin, but Kakashi did not realize it. He already planned on giving his student a piece of his mind once he was released, but now he just let a dangerous murderer get away needlessly. The former Hokage was not pleased.<p>

* * *

><p>She woke up again, breathing hard. A stray tear fell from her face because of the nightmare.<p>

_'Damn it!'_ she thought. The redhead was going mad. _'I'll just go for a walk, maybe I'll train some more too!'_ she decided to herself.

Getting up from her bed, she made a couple dozen **Kage Bushins** and sent them to help Tazuna before leaving the house, the quicker the bridge was complete, the sooner she'd be able to leave. Already being here a week, she wanted back home. The redhead was thankful she was able to avoid her team though.

Sakura's needless babbling and annoying rants were the worst. She loathed her pink-haired teammate. Sasuke typically left her alone, but she could still see the malice and hate for her in his eyes. Sakura was always trying to bash her for his sake. If Sasuke was not around, then Sakura would be more tolerable, which just served to make her hate both of them more.

Kakashi was the best of the three, seeing as whenever he looked at her, she could see pity. That did not mean he was any nicer to her however. The jōnin had instead preferred to focus on training Sasuke. He didn't care much to train Sakura either, but that did not prove to be a problem. The fan girl seemed to not actually care, and instead just wished to slave over the last Uchiha.

Slipping out of the door, she made her way into the forest.

While walking, she had let the surroundings truly envelop her. It was actually quite peaceful. The chirping of the birds, the beautiful flowers, and the wonderful weather which brought it all out.

She finally found herself in the middle of a clearing.

Slowly sitting down in the middle, she decided to meditate and clear her mind before she trained.


	3. Chilling Encounter

**Posted: Apr 18 2014**

* * *

><p><strong>I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden<strong>

* * *

><p>This was not what Haku had expected to see, not in the slightest.<p>

Lying in the middle of the clearing was the red-haired girl he had witnessed fighting his master, Zabuza.

_'What a coincidence...'_ the disguised ninja thought. Dressed in a simple sundress which was appropriate for the warm sun and cloudless sky. Haku had originally taken the path he had to reach the town near the bridge in order to investigate the ninja in town. Coming across one of them before he had even reached town was not expected.

Coming across the real reason he had chosen to undergo this reconnaissance mission was even more surprising.

The girl, from what he could tell, was around his age, maybe a little younger. It was odd how she was seemingly lying in the middle of the small, grassy field. If a rabbit had chosen to sleep there, then a hawk would have surely taken the opportunity to eliminate its pray. The same could be said for a ninja stalking another ninja. Haku was given the chance to easily eliminate his prey.

Walking closer towards the unconscious girl, he tried to take in her features more clearly. All he knew about her from their last encounter was fiery red hair and her blue eyes. He noticed more upon a second inspection. Her small frame, petite hands, and six odd whisker shaped scars on her face all become more visible the closer he got to her. It truly was odd to see someone sleeping as she was, lying face-up with arms close to the torso.

Before reaching her and the easy kill she would prove to be, he looked around himself. This could easily be a trap, or even a genjutsu. Looking behind him, he noticed all of the small critters staring at him. There was a particularly large white rabbit that stood out of the rest of the smaller rodents. It reminded him of his own white rabbit, Tequoia.

Tequoia was the one element in his life that made him feel human which Zabuza had allowed. The mercenary was always strict and cruel when it come to anything in his life, but he had let Haku keep the small creature as a pet. He was an unusual rabbit, it had never acted like anything one would expect of its kind.

Haku suddenly inhaled. The large rabbit had shifted its posture, and its eyes now looked more intimidating. Haku had gotten the feeling that the rabbit was somehow trying to scare him away, trying to stop him from killing the young girl while she slept.

A sense foreboding had enveloped the young man. The rabbit had not ceased his taunting, and Haku chose to look elsewhere for potential traps. Turning his head to the left, he spotted small canopies illuminated by the bright sun. He turned his head to the right to spot a massive, well-aged tree. From what he could tell, there would be no surprises.

Shifting again to the young girl, he knelt down in his pink dress, looking for any signs of a genjutsu. After finding none, he took another true inspection of the girl. From what he could tell, she had passed out from exhaustion, probably training. Despite the apparent tiredness her body was in, Haku could discern nothing else of glaring significance.

Haku had decided that this would be last mission. He was tired of the senseless fighting and servitude towards a murderer. If he were to fight, he would prefer for a noble cause than for cash. The brown haired boy had never liked killing. The mere idea of ending someone's life for such selfish reasons appalled him. This was his last mission, these would be his final assassinations.

Slowly bringing a hand up to her tiny face, he looked at her sleeping appearance once more. Her face seemed taut, her eyebrows knit. He imagined she was having a nightmare.

Haku for a reason unknown to himself frowned, feeling a pull at his stomach at the sight.

His powerful fist was over her neck. The cold, tactical training he had received opened up two possible situations he could follow.

1: Assassinate the sleeping kunochi. Eliminating a potential threat to the mission and then continue on with the primary objective of reconnaissance. Maximum benefit. Low risk.

2: Leave the girl and continue with the mission. Doing this would leave the ninja alive to retaliate against him later, providing unnecessary resistance. Minimum benefit. High risk.

Obviously, simply killing the girl proved to be the best of the two choices. The hyoton-user started to slowly close his hand, about to crush the sleeping girl's throat.

Suddenly, a flash of pain crossed the redhead's face. He could clearly see how her face squinted, as if she had flinched, and Haku was reminded why he wanted to go on this expedition in the first place. There was something in her eyes that struck at Haku, something familiar. He had to investigate. He had to know _what_ exactly it was that he saw in her blue orbs.

With that thought, a third choice was unlocked.

3: Wake the girl and fulfill the original objective of the mission. Unknown benefit. Unknown risk.

Having made his ultimate decision, he released his hold on the kunoichi's neck.

Immediately, he had noticed she was still distressed. He would assist her for now, it would be beneficial for _his_ mission. Reaching into a pouch behind him, he noticed that the menacing rabbit was no longer stalking him, nor any of the other animals. Pushing that thought away, Haku had begun to gently nudge her, attempting to wake her from her apparent nightmare.

* * *

><p><em>A nightmare would not have been fitting in her eyes. A terror, or perhaps, <em>_**The Terror**__ would have been much more fitting. A recurring series of events which_always_ happened when she had fallen victim to sleep. To her, it was a vision of a very real possibility._

_A young redheaded girl was standing alone, always alone. In front of Naruto always stood the faceless faces of the village's predators. Among them, faces she could recognize would always step out. Some were always more pain than others to look at. Regardless, it always hurt to look at how they looked at her._

_The first which would step out from the faceless mass was always the same._

_Umino Iruka. He would always lecture her, but then again, he was one of the only which would always help her if asked. That meant something to her, but always seeing him in this nightmare destroyed her belief in him._

_The chunin's gaze was always foreboding within this terror. "Naruto..." The chunin began, anger sparked in his eyes. "You are, and will always be... a failure." He took another silent step forward, as he always did, and then crossed him arms and narrowed his dangerous gaze. "You!" he always yelled out, pulling his right arm out of his left to point at the frightened girl. "Are, and will ALWAYS be a MONSTER!"_

_The redhead always flinched, violently. With a final look of disapproval, he always shook his head and walked back into the mob. It was always silent, except for when the people talked, or rather, yelled and screamed at her._

_It was always scary when she heard them. What was always scarier however, was how she would always feel the faceless mob stare at her._

_After a short period of silence and ominous feeling, the blob would always spit out another to... communicate with her._

_She had learned to hear the ever silent footsteps. She could always feel them in her bones. It was always very slight, impossibly so. There was actually nothing anything she could detect without looking at her tormenters. Regardless, she had developed a sixth sense from the always present terror in the air._

_She could always feel it now, the subtle change in the nonexistent air. A strange sensation always crossed her. The very slow and poised manner the next was striding at always told her many things._

"_Naruto..." The next spoke, always with nobility._

_The redhead would always glance, sometimes stare, when one of the faces materialized and communicated with her._

_Pulling her shaking head up, she always confirmed who she believed the next person was. Brushing her long red hair to the side, she looked up to see one Uchiha Sasuke, dressed in formal clothing, looking down at her with his face held high in the air, but his eyes arrogantly tracked towards the small child._

_Sasuke was always rather meaningless to the girl, but still, he always represented the fact that those who did not hate her, despised her._

_Tears always began bubbling in her eyes at this point._

"_Pathetic..." The Uchiha did not move at all, his lips always trailed a narrow path of disgust at the mere sight of the girl. "What makes YOU think you can do anything? A lowly orphan, a freak, a _monster..._" Sasuke said, his tone always gradually getting darker. "Quit trying, you're just a pathetic loser."_

_He always disappeared with the last syllable, always scattering to the still wind. Naruto was about to crack, again. It was always too much._

_The next clues to what was coming to her this time were always the same. The old, wooden staff she could feel pummeling the ground in silence always disturbed her to her core. The frail, yet powerful aura that was emitted shocked her._

_Looking up again, she was always afraid of what she would see._

_This this, she was met by the sharp gaze of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen._

"_No..." the young girl whispered, painfully. "Please... no..."_

_The old man always gripped his walking cane harder, and Naruto always thought it would shatter, but it did not. The Professor always brought up the ancient stick, and slammed it to the ground, further narrowing his graying eyes towards the child._

"_Naruto..." the old man seethed, pure rage thick in his voice._

_The shaking, almost convulsing girl was always breaking, but seeing _him_ was always too much. She could feel her heart start to rip._

_She tore her gaze away from the man, thoughts focused on why does everybody always hate her so. She spent half a minute in solid contemplation, and then a minute. Her eyes widened. Looking back to the Third Hokage, she saw his lips move, but not a noise was heard. Behind him the faceless faces had vanished._

"_Hey, wake up!" she heard, but most definitely not from Hiruzen. The stage where the terror was held was gradually whitening._

_This _never_ happened._

"_Wake up!" thundered again. The redhead began to pull herself up, looking towards where the old man stood, and where he had too vanished. Her vision was beginning to blind, and she blacked out._

* * *

><p>This was more difficult than he had imagined it would be. Pushing and pulling against her arm again, Haku again tried to wake her up again, signaling, "Wake up!"<p>

Suddenly the redhead kicked back to life. Instantly springing up and sharply inhaling. She grabbed the nearest thing she could reach in a death grip. _'She's surprisingly strong,'_ Haku wheezed from within his thoughts. His body was squeezed into one of the few, and definitely the strongest hug he had ever received. Haku felt oddly warmer than he ever did.

Naruto was hyperventilating. Completely unaware of her surroundings, she was reacting off primal reactions.

Haku could begin to feel, or rather, lose the feeling in his arms because of the sheer physical power of the girl in front of him. He had to find a way out before he lost complete function of his upper limbs, but he did not want to blow his cover. "Hey!" Haku grunted. Hoping he would not have to lose his disguise to escape.

The redhead was slowly coming back to her senses, but her cheeks were still flushed with hot tears. She eventually noticed that there was someone in front of her, someone she was holding onto, and someone who looked like he was growing more and more blue. She immediately let go at the realization.

_'She almost forced me to use ninjutsu to escape...'_ he thought, almost disturbed that he had resorted to his physical shinobi prowess, and that it failed him. It looked to him that she did not notice that little aspect, which was good.

Naruto was immediately regretful. She had almost squeezed someone to death and she did not even mean to. She was still breathing heavily from the nightmare, but she was still ashamed and looked to the ground right after she let go of the boy in front of her. "S-so-sorry," the young girl wheezed out, still wiping her eyes clean of the wetness.

That all but confirmed to Haku that his cover was still intact. He was slightly shaken, but quickly composed himself. "Are you... okay?" Haku questioned lightly, as a concerned human likely would.

She had yet to show her face to him since she woke. She then turned her face, largely clear of the moisture that had inhabited it earlier, to him. "Yeah... sorry," she mumbled. Her red hair still in her eyes.

Haku raised an eye brow, slightly frustrated. "It's fine," he exclaimed, a little more forceful than he had meant to be. He saw the kunoichi take a deep breath. He assumed it was to compose herself.

The redhead brushed the hair out of her eyes. Looking at the unknown person in front of her, she evaluated the situation. This... civilian had woken her up from her nightmare. The person seemed to be worried about her in some way. She let her head drop and sighed. Glancing back up, she said more formally, "Thanks."

Haku was lost in thought as he looked into her brilliant blue orbs again. There was a lot that could be read in a pair of eyes. Emotions namely, and through those emotions deeper concepts such as history and personality can be observed. Knowing she had said something that warranted response, he responded simply, "You're welcome." He allowed himself a gentle smile that came slightly more easily than usual. "It didn't seem safe you know..." he told her nicely, "sleeping in the middle of a field like that."

Naruto was confused. Her instincts told her something was off about the...boy? Girl? But still, she played along. "Yeah..." she started, "I guess it wasn't the smartest thing I could've done," she indicated softly. "By the way, I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Deception was the name of the game as a shinobi. "What's your name?" she asked innocently. However, such a simple question can force a lie, and she was good at spotting liars.

Haku instantly had a another, backup name which was well rehearsed. Koyuki Hana has been the last name quite a few of Shinobi have known before their icy death. The Hyoton user opened his mouth to respond, simply vocalizing "Yuki Haku." He was very calm on the outside, which was noted. On the inside however, he was questioning himself. He did not want to lie anymore... and this could be a start. It was illogical, but he did it anyways.

The Uzumaki inwardly was confused, she expected to see the telltale signs of a lie in the eyes of the person in front of her. Naurto raised an eyebrow, noticing the subtle qualities the person had. Most definitely male, but why was he pretending to be a girl? Perhaps he was still not as he appeared. She knew she could not risk trusting anybody, and this boy was rubbing her the wrong way.

"Why were you out here, Naruto-san?" he questioned, genuinely curious. He had his theories of course, but it would be nice to know for sure. "You seemed rather exhausted."

Naruto narrowed her eyes for a brief moment. He had to have known that she was a ninja, and if a ninja was exhausted in a field, it should obviously mean that said ninja was training. "I'm a ninja," she declared neutrally. "I was training and I guess I got a little carried away, heh." In truth she was never _that_exhausted from training, but she did make the mistake of falling asleep and she slipped into the nightmare that caused most of her weakness.

The brunette was not that pleased. He could instantly tell she was withholding information from the brief but noticeable look in her eyes. He began to talk smoothly again, "Oh, I guess that makes sense, doesn't it?" He cleared his throat, before beginning again. "You have to be strong to be a ninja don't you?"

_'I'm really beginning to think this guy is really stupid or is hiding something...'_ She half-smiled, "Yeah, I do don't I? Wouldn't do much good fighting if I wasn't." Very believable, she reasoned.

Haku's eyes, still reading her own, closed momentarily. _'I suppose I should ask her now...'_ Smiling gently, he inquired, "Why are you a ninja? What do you fight for?" This was an important question to him. He had to find his own place in life, he did not know why he even fought.

The redhead's eye's widened a little at the question. A little surprised, she could not think of a real answer right off the bat. "I umm..." she whispered a little embarrassed. She searched her mind for why she bothered. Her eyes lit up a little, which surprised the boy. "I fight..." she started off, with conviction in her voice. "I fight because I have something to prove! I fight because I want..." she trailed off, her mood dampened. "'cause I don't want people to... hate me any... more..." The girls red hair fell in front of her face as it drooped. "I want..." she stopped, cold.

Haku was stricken, amazed. He wanted to learn more about the girl. This was his first time communicating with someone like this without having the intent to destroy them. It made him happy. He looked up to the sun. His smile dropped. "I..." he began dreadfully, "I need to go..." He stood up and brushed himself off, and began to walk away. _'This has taken much longer than I had thought it would... Zabuza is going to expect me back soon.'_

_'What?!'_ the redhead thought. Naruto rushed up and grabbed his forearm, "Where do you think you're going? Huh?"

Haku was surprised, not expecting that reaction. He opened his mouth to respond but found himself interrupted.

"Who are you anyways? You're obviously a boy... you know more than what you let on, and what's with these questions?!" she demanded. Her narrowed eyes and expression startled him.

Containing himself, he calmly replied, "I'm no one important."

She raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ," she replied just as calmly. Haku turned his head back to hers and they locked eyes once more. Naruto's expression turned to surprise. "You..." she said, emotionless. "You're the masked ninja, aren't you!" she accused. The look in his eye gave it away. "You tricked me!" She felt betrayed.

Haku narrowed his features. "How do you-" he was interrupted.

"Your eyes! I can see it!" The redhead exclaimed. She began reaching for her kunai pouch, ready for a fight.

Haku's eyes widened. He channeled his bloodline into his arm, surprising the girl with the sudden change in temperature. Haku pushed her away. They were both on even footing now as he reached for his concealed senbon.

The shift in temperature completely caught Naruto by surprise. _'What... was that?'_ she thought to herself. She had lost the immediate advantage she had.

"I don't want to fight you," the Hyoton user calmly explained. _'Why...'_

The Uzumaki grimaced. "Why not?"

Haku frowned. "I don't want to kill anymore," he uttered with remorse. _'Please do not make me do this...'_

The redhead was confused. _'Why is he trying to kill the bridge builder and helping that Zabuza guy then...'_ She could tell he was not lying through his eyes. She was completely lost. "Well then," she started intently, she changed her position to a more aggressive one. "Too bad!" she yelled out as she charged him with the kunai in hand. She would rely on shadow clones a little later on she decided.

_'So it must be...'_ Haku mournfully thought to himself.

Strategically, Haku was at the advantage. He was in a solid defensive stance and the enemy was charging at him directly. He would simply rely on his better posture and reactions to catch the kunoichi.

Naruto came up running and threw a kunai. She prepared a right hook after reaching him at the same time the kunai did, which was only feigned as she switched her momentum for a right kick aimed at the ninja's torso.

It was painfully easy to read, the Yuki thought. He deflected the the kunai with his right hand plus senbon, while he positioned his left to parry the hook or the possible kick. When he saw the shift in momentum he moved his body a little to the left and grabbed the girls leg, and used her own momentum to throw her away.

Naruto was flustered. She saw how easy that was for her opponent to simply toss her into the dirt. She knew he could get away now, but perhaps she'll ask him something now. "Humor me then..." she started, sarcasm dripping in her voice. "Why do _you_ fight? Why do _you_ bother?" she questioned, somewhat angrily.

Haku's eyes widened. "I..." he frowned. "I... I don't know..." he struggled to vocalize. Regaining his emotionless expression, he took one last look into her blue eyes.

Naruto noticed a mist begin to envelop Haku, she was straining to see. She stared at his face, trying to read his expression before he went.

"Please, don't be at the bridge in three days... I don't want to kill you," he declared. He himself could not see out of the mist he created now. He looked to the ground for a second before returning back to the hideout.

Naruto stood there, trying to comprehend what happened. _'What a sad, confusing person...'_ She felt a little bad for how she reacted to him. _'He really does not want to hurt me...'_ She frowned. "He doesn't know what I hold though... if he did he would hate me too... like the rest of them..." she spoke sadly.

She thought back to when they originally met. _'He had a really weird look in his eye. I know I have seen it before too...'_ She looked to the sun as well... _'And I'll see it again at the bridge...'_

She brushed the guilt and herself off and walked off in the direction of the cabin. She had a lot of prep work to do, and next time she would go all out.


	4. The Bridge

**Posted: Sep 7 2015**

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><p><em><strong>I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden<strong>_

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><p>Haku was nervous. An odd emotion for the shinobi to be feeling. He and Zabuza were approaching the bridge with a boat. The elderly ninja had decided now was the time to strike, as further reconnaissance was not going to help them anymore. Not only that, but Gato was pressuring the two rogue ninja to hurry up with their mission.<p>

A thick mist had enveloped the construction zone already. Zabuza looked toward his apprentice and nodded once, signaling his intention to begin. Haku nodded as well.

This was it.

The fear that was present among the genin was tangible... Haku narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to handle Kakashi," he growled. "You take care of the genin," he demanded.

"Go!" the demon in the mist announced.

Needles started flying through the air.

"Protect Tazuna!" Haku heard from through the mist. Looking to his left, Zabuza had already left to take a better position.

"Kakashi! I'm going to kill you!" he roared, charging in, which sent the genin and Tazuna flying away.

_They are my charge..._

Rushing in, Haku clashed with the black haired genin. He looked so... determined...

"I don't want to have to kill you..." the masked ninja stated through the tenseness of the environment.

Laughing, the Uchiha replied, "Don't be foolish."

So it must be then...

Flying through one handed seals as the two were locked in struggle, Haku stopped.

"Special jutsu..."

Water began hovering up in the air, taking sharp, needle like shapes around Sasuke.

"Flying water needles."

_'Shit!'_ he thought before remembering his training.

_Crash!_ Hundreds of water needles impacted the area Sasuke was at.

_'He's not there?'_ the masked ninja noticed.

"You're pretty slow," he heard from behind. "From now on... you'll only be able to run from _my_ attacks..."

_'So naive... giving himself away instead of going for the kill...'_

Instantly spinning around, Haku brought his left arm up to block the incoming strike, and he sent a punishing kick to the young Uchiha's stomach, knocking him away.

_'Here's my chance!'_

Quickly sprinting across the bridge, while dousing his senbon in the poison in his pocket, he appeared over the leaf ninja who stared at him while Haku was mid-air. He threw the senbon accurately to spots within the boy's chest, enough to slow his heart, but not to kill him. The light faded from his eyes and Haku flipped onto his feet. Looking over to the pink haired genin, he realized that one was missing-

_Slam!_

A fierce kick to the back sent him toppling, but not before he twisted his body mid-air launching more senbon behind him, which caught Naruto off guard.

_Pierce!_

"Argh..." the Uzumaki grunted, feeling the poison reach her blood stream.

Haku nodded to himself, seeing the redheaded girl succumbing to the nerve toxins. _'Pathetic...'_ he thought to himself.

"I'm not... giving up!" he heard the girl shout in front of him, pulling out the three senbon lodged in her body.

This was cause for surprise for Haku, no one should be able to be standing after that. "Impossible..." he said aloud, surprised. Using the natural water on the ground, Haku wasted no time in progressing this battle.

Strange... panels seemed to rise up into the air. Ice... Naruto realized. She suddenly found herself surrounded by large blocks of ice!

"Hidden jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors."

Suddenly images of the masked ninja filled the ice.

"Give in..." she heard in an eerie voice which resonated.

Narrowing her eyes, she taunted the ninja which had her surrounded, "I'll never give up!"

"Very well then..." he said slowly, before rushing forth.

Suddenly Naruto found herself being assaulted from every angle, needles ripping at her flesh. Scrapes and deep cuts began covering her body everywhere.

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><p>Minato and Kushina grew concerned for their daughter, this ninja was clearly going to destroy her!<p>

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><p>Pause...<p>

Naruto fell to her knees gasping in agony. It hurt so much, but Naruto still pulled herself up, angry. "I'm going to beat you!" she roared, pulling her fists in. "I'll show everyone that I'm strong..." she said, pained but confident. "I'm not someone... you can just toss away!"

That raised Haku's eyebrow. This girl... was so confident. "Tell me..." his voiced echoed. "Why do you want to show everyone that you're strong?" he was curious what could give her hope in this situation of hers.

Angered, she instantly replied, "I grew up without any friends or parents and everyone hated me!" she yelled passionately. "I want to show them all that I can be..." she slowed down, breathing.

"Then... do you think it is your pain that makes you strong?" he asked, oddly drawn to this girl's story.

Narrowing her eyes, she yelled back, "pain? Pain?!" She was accusing him now. "What could you ever know about pain?!" she asked, angered.

It was strange, when he looked at this girl, he could feel such odd, alien emotions. Perhaps, he would tell her his story, and she could tell him hers. "Do you know anything of the blood line purges?" he asked, neutral.

Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded negatively.

"This jutsu you see... my control of the ice is a kekkei genkai," he punctuated by raising his hands, which mirrored to all of the ice panels. "When I was young... my mother, she..." he said, his voice depressing. "She was killed by my father for possessing the Hyoton, the control over ice that I have..." Naruto's mouth dropped a little.

"She was killed by my father..." he uttered neutrally.

This caused Naruto's eyes to widen, why would parents ever... kill each other?

"Then he came for me... he little son... but my ice manifested and I killed him first," he said accusingly, almost judging the girl in front of him. He wouldn't admit it but, seeing the pained look on her face almost made him feel... better.

"I was hated and ran out of the country for something that I could not myself control..." That statement would later have more consequences then he could ever imagine...

Suddenly she realized everything... This boy, was like she was... Hated for something she had no control over... but...

"Then," he continued, "I was homeless for such a long time... until Zabuza found me and took an interest when he discovered my blood line..." he stated indifferently. "He trained me because he knew I would be useful to him..."

This caused the girl to perk up a little. "Why would you stay with a murderer though! He is only using you!" she spoke passionately, feeling connected to him because of the blood he could not control he had, like the demon in her stomach that she didn't want.

This caused him to pause for a moment in thought... "I... he..." he struggled. "I had nothing else..."

She understood him...

_"Are you... okay?"_

"It doesn't have to be that way though! You can live however you want to!" she yelled at him, showing a side of her she never has. "Do you really want to be the... minion of a man like that?" she asked him honestly... "I know what it's like..." she told him from the heart.

Feeling the doubts creep up on him again, he realized maybe... he did not want to be Zabuza's pawn... But then further realization came to him and he grew angry. "How could you ever know what it's like!" he lost his patience. Bringing his hands up, he prepared to attack again.

Seeing his intentions, she braced herself, sad that she couldn't get through.

Suddenly, he shot out of the mirror, resuming his lightning fast attacks.

_Cut! Slash! Rip!_

There was so much blood draining out of her body now. "Because..." she yelped, falling to her knees, afraid and hurt. "I hold something... too..."

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><p>Their daughter was dying! Minato quickly prepared the seal to push out some of the demon's chakra to aid their child.<p>

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><p>Suddenly a red cloak appeared over Naruto, full of menacing and evil chakra. "I am the jincūriki..." she pronounced, standing up with her new power, "of the Kyūbi..."<p>

Instantly stopping Haku stared on in amazement.

In a new sense of serene calm, she spoke to him again, "I know what it's like to be alone... to feel like there is no hope, to be a prisoner, to be hated for something you have no control over..." she told him.

Haku, hearing that, exactly what he experienced, retreated deep into thought. Seeing the girl in front of him exude this chakra but remain calm surprised him... Seeing the cuts and scrapes on her heals surprised him... But hearing that she knows his pain... shook him.

"I know what it's like... wanting to escape but not knowing how..."

Tears began to flow out of his eyes, and he was shaking. So much bottled emotions were releasing... Things that were supposed to be trapped forever... The ice mirrors began to slowly dissipate, the reflections disappearing one by one... Suddenly, Haku fell down to his knees, the last mirror melting away as he lost his composure.

He was crying and the pain in his chest wouldn't stop after hearing what she said... He heard steps but he didn't care... It was until he could tell they were right next to him that he looked up.

He saw that girl, with long red hair and whisker marks on her cheeks standing over him, smiling. The chakra cloak had disappeared by now. He was shaking so badly, his arms crossed as he shivered. Slowly, the girl brought a hand to his face... the mask he wore...

The mask he's always worn was crumbling down before her words...

She slowly pulled it off, revealing his true face, looking down at the ground in sadness, tears rushing out of his eyes. His felt arms slowly wrap around his frame, a warm feeling.

Warm... so warm...

"I..." he croaked out, "I don't want to hurt anyone!" he cried, bringing his hands up and embracing the girl in front of him.

A strange feeling was engulfing Naruto... but it felt right... so she continued to hug the crying boy. "It's okay... Haku..." she heard herself say.

He brought his head up a little, wanting to look at the girl... he was overcome with so many emotions as he stared into this blue eyes which mirrored back to him...

"Lightning Blade!" he heard over in the distance, jolting him to attention. Zabuza was going to die! He immediately tried to stand up, but he was held down by the girl in front of him. Looking over to where he heard the noise he struggled with himself. He looked back over to the redhead and he saw a tear escape her eyes as well, and that is when he broke down entirely.

Holding him tightly after he jumped, they both realized that Zabuza was about to die. He was choosing her over him, she realized. "It's okay..." she told him. "It's okay..." she repeated.

"I'm sorry..." he cried, "I'm so sorry..."

They began hearing footsteps in their direction. Haku shrunk down, and Naruto realized he was afraid.

"Naruto..." she heard behind her. Tilting her head, she saw Kakashi-sensei, complete with the sharingan and blood running down his right arm. "It's okay sensei..." she told him, hoping he would go away for a moment.

"Naruto... he is the enemy..." her sensei declared. "Naruto!" he yelled more fiercely, trying to snap her out of whatever it was she was doing. Haku merely tightened his grip on the girl, afraid at what was going to happen to him now... Zabuza was dead... he was dead...

"Hahahahaha!" they all heard over in the distance. A small, fat little man with glasses led a horde of people with weapons.

"Gato..." Haku whispered.

Nodding in understanding, Kakashi replied, "I see..."

Haku gently pushed Naruto away, standing up on his own and clearing his eyes. Startling Naruto, she asked worriedly, "Haku?!"

"One..." he started, realizing what he must do now, "moment..."

Slowly walking toward Gato, he stopped, facing him and the legion of men he had hired as mercenaries.

"Hahahahaha!" he laughed tauntingly. "You and Zabuza couldn't do it could you? I knew you were useless, I hired some muscle of my own and we're going to kill _you_ and that bridge builder!" he smiled devilishly. "Go get 'em boys!" he announced, and the hired thugs started rushing forth.

Looking behind him, he saw the concerned expression of Naruto as well as the weighing gaze of her sensei. He took a deep breath and faced the horde coming toward him. _'One more time...'_ he told himself.

Rapidly flashing through hand seals, the legion was almost upon him when-

"Hidden jutsu: a million ice needles of death!"

A mass of water appeared in the air, freezing and forming into icy needles before being launched at the mass of enemies before him.

Blood and gore instantly tore through them, the sounds of death and destruction ripped through the air.

The sight of so much death disturbed the young redhead behind him. _'Is this... what he's used to?'_ she questioned.

The screams began to stop as the bodies ceased movement.

Haku started to walk toward the last remaining survivor, Gato. Shivering in terror, Haku approached him, wading through the countless dead bodies of those pierced through the heart or neck.

Cowering in fear, he tried to buy his way out, "I-I can get you a-anything you want!" Suddenly Haku grasped his neck and to his terror, he felt the coldest he ever had before in his life. Ice began to creep up his legs, freezing his body solid. The look of horror on the fat man's face, immortalized.

Haku let go of the ice sculpture which he had created and took a quick look at it.

_Shatter!_

The ice and Gato then broke into thousands of small pieces, effectively erasing the existence of the man. Haku merely stood there, numb. Looking around himself, he looked upon the death and destruction he had just caused. They... deserved it though. They were not innocent villagers trying to get by... they were criminals with the intent to kill the innocent...

Haku began trudging back through the mess he had created. Walking upon the shocked Naruto he frowned, understanding of how a monster like him would disturb someone. He looked up toward Kakashi who was still evaluating him, trying to figure him out.

In an act of surprise however, Haku fell back down to his knees and bent over his neck, seemingly offering himself. "Kill me..." he whispered, catching Kakashi off guard.

Closing his eyes, he came to peace with himself. This was what he wanted. This would be his escape. "Kill me..." he said again."I don't... deserve to live..." he admitted.

Getting up, Naruto yelled, "No!" She than rushed over to his side, willing to comfort the tormented boy. She embraced the ice ninja, feeling the coldness surprised her, but she stayed with him.

The sight in front of him gave the aged ninja pause. It would seem she really got through to the ninja. "I guess it can't be helped..." he began. "Meet us by the lodge in an hour, and bring him with you," he told her, pointing toward Haku.

Kakashi started walking away when he heard Naruto say something. "What about... Sasuke?" she asked quietly. Turning around, Kakashi gave his signature eye smile and pointed to Haku in her arms, "He left him alive... he's just unconscious."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. Haku left him alive...

Smiling, she asked the older ninja in her arms, "How does going to Konoha sound?"

Haku raised his head at that. "Konoha..?" he asked, he could go there?

"Yeah... how does that sound?" she asked him in a friendly manner.

This caused even more emotions to swell up in him. "I just killed all of those people! I'm a monster!" he started, "I'm a murderer..." he cried to himself. How could this girl even saw that after what he just did...

Saddened at what he said, she let her arms go from him. "They were bad people though... they deserved it..." she told him. "It's okay... Haku." She genuinely wanted to help him, seeing the similarities that they both shared. "Don't you want to start over... in a new village... with people that would accept you?" she reasoned to him. "People with bloodlines are welcomed there..."

Ahh, that's right isn't it?

But...

"But you said... you're not accepted there" he quietly pointed out to her, which he noticed he shake a little when he said that.

Laughing a little, she supposed he was right. She wasn't accepted there...

His eyes were still moist, the tears still coming. "Why Naruto... do you try so hard..." he asked her, supremely curious. "Why don't you just kill me..." he wanted to know.

Frowning a little, she found her words. "Because... we both are hated for something we can't control... I figure we can understand a little about each other... and..." she paused, her heart betraying the subtlety she wants to hold. "I that because we understand each other... we could..."

"I think we could be really good friends..." she told him honestly. "Haku..."

He laughed a little to himself at the hopefulness of this girl... but the tear falling down his eye showed how hopeful he himself was, too. "I think... we could be really good friends, too, Naruto-chan," he told her as he smiled at the girl.

Starting to stand up, he looked over to his mask and went over to it. Picking it up, he closely inspected it. Suddenly, Naruto grabbed it and gently pulled it away from him. "You won't need this anymore..." she punctuated by tossing the mask over the bridge.

"No... I suppose I won't then..." he said mostly to himself. Glancing over to the way Kakashi was walking, he saw the corpse of _him._

Slowly making his way over, Naruto was saddened. Looking on to Haku who began staring at him, she let him take his time. Naruto herself noticed that Sasuke's body was gone, probably taken by Kakashi to rest.

A lot of memories started going by for Haku... and in the end... he was glad this was over. He started to pick up the body which surprised Naruto, and he dropped it over the bridge, and then he did the same for his massive sword.

Looking down into the water, Haku smiled slightly.

"Thank you... Naruto... Let's go to Konoha."

Naruto smiled at the ice ninja who was looking away into the frozen waters.

"Let's go."


End file.
